Joe Palcahttp://knau.org
enProgress In The Fight Against A Parasite That Causes Diarrheal Diseasehttp://knau.org/post/progress-fight-against-parasite-causes-diarrheal-disease
Scientists are reporting progress in the fight against a parasite that's a major cause of diarrheal disease in the developing world.<p>To make progress against any microbial disease, scientists usually try to find ways to tinker with the microbe's genes, looking for weak spots that could be exploited with drugs.<p>But tinkering with the genes of <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/">Cryptosporidium parvum</a> has been difficult, if not completely impossible.Wed, 15 Jul 2015 21:01:00 +0000Joe Palca65119 at http://knau.orgFlood Maps Can Get Much Sharper With A Little Supercomputing Oomphhttp://knau.org/post/flood-maps-can-get-much-sharper-little-supercomputing-oomph
A small company in California is hoping to make a big splash by providing detailed flood maps to homeowners and insurance companies. And to do that, the company is using one of the fastest supercomputers in the world.<p>The company is called <a href="http://www.katrisk.com/">Katrisk</a>, based in Berkeley, Calif. Hydrologist and computer modeler Dag Lohmann is one of the company's founders.Tue, 30 Jun 2015 19:31:00 +0000Joe Palca64504 at http://knau.orgFlood Maps Can Get Much Sharper With A Little Supercomputing OomphHow A Drunken Chipmunk Voice Helps Send A Public Service Messagehttp://knau.org/post/how-drunken-chipmunk-voice-helps-send-public-service-message
You get a voicemail message from a friend. Her voice sounds a little ... weird. Like a chipmunk who had too much to drink.<p>After her message, you're told you can push a button on the phone and hear another kind of message: say, job listings in your neighborhood or tips on how to stop the spread of Ebola.<p>That's how a new game called <a href="http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~./Polly/">Polly</a> works.Mon, 01 Jun 2015 07:32:00 +0000Joe Palca63241 at http://knau.orgHow A Drunken Chipmunk Voice Helps Send A Public Service MessageWelcome To The Neighborhood: 2 Super-Earths Discoveredhttp://knau.org/post/welcome-neighborhood-2-super-earths-discovered
Using telescopes in Hawaii and California, astronomers have found two super-Earth-size planets orbiting a star a mere 54 light-years away.<p>This brings to three the total number of exoplanets around the star HD 7924.<p>The discovery is important for two reasons. NASA's <a href="http://kepler.nasa.gov/">Kepler</a> telescope has shown that giant rocky planets orbiting close to their stars are fairly common for distant stars.Wed, 29 Apr 2015 18:32:00 +0000Joe Palca61956 at http://knau.orgWelcome To The Neighborhood: 2 Super-Earths DiscoveredHubble's Other Telescope And The Day It Rocked Our Worldhttp://knau.org/post/hubbles-other-telescope-and-day-it-rocked-our-world
The Hubble Space Telescope this week celebrates 25 years in Earth's orbit.Sat, 25 Apr 2015 12:07:00 +0000Joe Palca61793 at http://knau.orgHubble's Other Telescope And The Day It Rocked Our WorldDoctors Test Tumor Paint In Peoplehttp://knau.org/post/doctors-test-tumor-paint-people
A promi<em>s</em>ing technique for making brain tumors glow so they'll be easier for surgeons to remove is now being tested in cancer patients.<p>Eighteen months ago, Shots first told readers about <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/12/221060071/why-painting-tumors-could-make-brain-surgeons-better">tumor paint</a>, an experimental substance derived from scorpion venom. Inject tumor paint into a patient's vein, and it will actually cross the blood-brain barrier and find its way to a brain tumor.Wed, 08 Apr 2015 07:45:00 +0000Joe Palca61033 at http://knau.orgDoctors Test Tumor Paint In PeopleWant To Do A Little Astrophysics? This App Detects Cosmic Rayshttp://knau.org/post/want-do-little-astrophysics-app-detects-cosmic-rays
Scientists in California are hoping to use your smart phone to solve a cosmic mystery. They're developing an app to turn your phone into a cosmic ray detector.Mon, 30 Mar 2015 18:34:00 +0000Joe Palca60655 at http://knau.orgWant To Do A Little Astrophysics? This App Detects Cosmic RaysSpeeding Up Yeast's Evolution And What It Says About Cancerhttp://knau.org/post/speeding-yeasts-evolution-and-what-it-says-about-cancer
<div class="fullattribution">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.<img src="http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Speeding+Up+Yeast%27s+Evolution+And+What+It+Says+About+Cancer&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDA5MTc0MDI0MDEzMzE4MjI4ODdlOTk4MA004)"/></div><p>Transcript <p>DAVID GREENE, HOST: <p>We typically think of evolution as a process that occurs over millions, or even hundreds of millions, of years. But some evolutionary changes happen much faster than that. Scientists in California are seeing that as they study a rapidly reproducing organism.Mon, 09 Mar 2015 09:34:00 +0000Joe Palca59791 at http://knau.orgClimate Scientist Tries Arts To Stir Hearts Regarding Earth's Fatehttp://knau.org/post/climate-scientist-tries-arts-stir-hearts-regarding-earths-fate
<p>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5kml7Fb17o</p>Mon, 16 Feb 2015 21:00:00 +0000Joe Palca58945 at http://knau.orgClimate Scientist Tries Arts To Stir Hearts Regarding Earth's FateOn The Ant Highway, There's Never A Backuphttp://knau.org/post/ant-highway-theres-never-backup
A team of Indian physicists has made a mathematical model that purports to explain why ants don't have traffic jams. NPR's Joe Palca explains as part of his series, <em>Joe's Big Idea.</em><p><em>This story <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/01/19/377743242/why-ants-handle-traffic-better-than-you-do">originally aired</a> on </em>Morning Edition<em> on January 19, 2015.</em> <div class="fullattribution">Copyright 2015 NPR.Mon, 26 Jan 2015 21:01:00 +0000Joe Palca58020 at http://knau.org